How to Improve Our Attention Span

Founder of the Learning Cosmos André Hedlund explores the growing challenges of maintaining attention spans in the age of digital distractions. André dives into the impact of screen time, executive functions' role in learning, and how going back to basics can foster focus and resilience in our classrooms.

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Key talking points

🌐 Digital Overload:
André highlights how delegating human interaction to devices has contributed to declining IQ levels for the first time in recorded history. He explains why educators must rethink the role of technology in teaching to align with how the brain processes information.

🧠 Executive Functions:
André explains the importance of training the brain's "operational control centre'‘ through situations that challenge students' impulse control, emotional regulation, and focus. He emphasises how avoiding frustration deprives learners of opportunities to develop these critical skills.

🎮 The Dopamine Dilemma:
André dives into the neuroscience behind dopamine and how easily accessible digital rewards disrupt the brain's balance. He advocates for finding healthier ways to engage students without relying on instant gratification.

🎲 Back to Basics:
From play-based learning to fostering genuine human connections, André urges educators to revisit traditional methods that prioritise interaction, exploration, and meaningful experiences over digital dependence.

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Classroom Takeaways

• Tech-Free Time: Dedicate portions of lessons to unplugged activities, encouraging face-to-face interactions and teamwork.

• Frustration Training: Design tasks that allow students to face challenges, fostering patience and perseverance.

• Play-Based Learning: Incorporate games and physical activities to help students develop executive functions naturally.

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About André

André Hedlund is a Chevening (pronounced as evening) Alumnus, MSc Psychology of Education - University of Bristol, Educational Consultant, Speaker, Author, and Guest Lecturer on Bilingualism and Cognition in Postgraduate courses. He currently works as an e-moderator in British Council training programs. André is the leader of BRAZ-TESOL’s Mind, Brain, and Education SIG and the founder of the Learning Cosmos.

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References & Resources

• The Learning Cosmos Substack

• The Learning Cosmos Instagram
  

• Haidt, J. (2024) The Anxious Generation. Penguin

• Hedlund, A. (2022) The Owl Factor: Reframing your Teaching Philosophy. Independent

Watch the video with closed captions or refer to the transcript below.

YouTube thumbnail artwork that displays the title: How to improve our Attention Span for Better Learning with André Hedlund. In the lower right corner, there's a photo of André looking at the camera.

Transcript

00:00:00:05 - 00:00:21:14

Laura

TESOL Pop season ten special episode. Hello. and welcome to TESOL Pop, the mini podcast for busy teachers. My name is Laura, and joining me today to talk about improving our attention span is the founder of The Learning Cosmos, André Hedlund. Now, I say our attention span because this is a challenge for us as educators as much as it is for our learners.

00:00:21:18 - 00:00:38:13

Laura

So in this episode, Andre talks about the challenge screens are presenting to us, what he's seeing in classrooms, as well as solutions that he sees going forward to improve the quality of our attention and therefore our learning. So let's jump into this conversation where I asked Andre about the challenges we're facing right now.

00:00:38:16 - 00:01:05:08

André

For the very first time in history. We are delegating social interaction, you know, and things that make us human, let's say, to machines, to to digital devices. Right. And I feel like there's a trend in education and people are trying to make their classrooms more techie or tech savvy or digital because they feel that this is going to benefit their students.

00:01:05:08 - 00:01:35:14

André

They're going to learn more. But we have, data showing that IQ levels are dropping. And that's something that we should all be concerned with. Even if, you know, IQ, is not the best predictor of anything. It's a psychometric scale, but it is something. And this has never happened before since we've started measuring IQ. You know, 80 years ago, each generation became, let's say, smarter.

00:01:35:14 - 00:02:03:06

André

They were smarter than their parents. They had a higher average IQ when compared to their parents. But for the first time now, the generations coming, now they have lower IQ compared to their parents. And that has a lot to do with dealing with too much information. Maybe we should rethink how, you know, to teach and implement those digital texts in in the classroom, because the architecture of the brain remains pretty much the same.

00:02:03:06 - 00:02:11:05

André

So we have to go with the brain, you know, follow the brain. Don't go against the brain. That's that's what I think anyway. So I'm concerned. Yeah.

00:02:11:07 - 00:02:33:04

Laura

There's a lot of layers of complexity to this issue, isn't it. It's like the social interactions that we need to be having the enrichment of our lives at that brings that the phone is kind of stealing from us. The screens are stealing from us. The IQ dropping issue, particularly applying to the younger generations, like you said. And also that dopamine searching, the hunting for that kind of quick fix that is like an addiction.

00:02:33:06 - 00:03:10:06

Laura

I'd also add, like the pandemic has probably exacerbated this. Thinking about all that time we had to spend indoors, self-isolating for so many locations. That certainly wouldn't have helped. So that's probably also, yeah, made this issue worse. And I'm wondering what are we now seeing then in the classroom? How is this translating to classroom practices? You mentioned earlier at the very start that teachers are seeking to bring tech into the classroom and bringing like, the latest trends and stay tech savvy, but that may not be what they should be doing from what you're from what you're saying, maybe that's not a good thing.

00:03:10:08 - 00:03:35:10

André

Well, I think maybe we should do should be doing the opposite. And in many regards, I think one of the reasons why is that we need to practice or train, let's say something that we know as executive functions. Right. So, our prefrontal cortex, that's the last part to mature, to develop in the brain is responsible for the executive functions.

00:03:35:10 - 00:04:10:16

André

And one of them is really about regulating your emotions, your behaviours and stopping, you know, your impulses and and making sure that you can control the things that you think of. So your thoughts, your, everything basically. So it's your operational control centre, let's say. And the only way for you to train those skills is for you to actually be in contexts or situations where, opportunities arise for you to do so.

00:04:10:16 - 00:04:35:19

André

So if you are in a context where you get frustrated and then you have to practice your inhibitory control, that's how you train it. But the thing is, more so than ever, whenever kids get frustrated, they get a tablet, you know, they get a phone and then they are distracted for that from that feeling. And they don't get the chance to practice to train that particular executive functions function.

00:04:35:19 - 00:04:58:09

André

And then if you think about the pandemic, that's exactly what happened. Parents were desperate because they had to work. Teachers were even more desperate because they had to to make sure that kids were getting some sort of education. And, and they were teaching remotely, and they were trying to make sure that kids were not frustrated. And maybe that's the, you know, a recipe for disaster.

00:04:58:09 - 00:05:22:19

André

I'd say we need to make sure that kids are listened to, are welcome, that we establish rapport with them, but we cannot avoid frustration. Frustration is part of life, and as human beings, we need to learn how to deal with that. We have to learn how to better manage our emotions. And that's what happened during the pandemic. Emotions were all over the place.

00:05:22:21 - 00:05:49:19

André

We didn't practice or train the executive functions that are responsible for, you know, helping us deal with them. And now I think it's very clear now we we can see the consequences, you know, and you mentioned dopamine. And I just wanted to to add that that's the thing about dopamine. Dopamine is one of the most important, well-researched neurotransmitters in the literature.

00:05:49:19 - 00:06:16:18

André

So we've known about dopamine for a couple of years now. And we know that dopamine is not really related to a rewarding feeling, not necessarily not directly. It's much more about a reward seeking, situation. So dopamine is released when we are looking or when we are searching for a reward and a reward. Could be anything, could be a smile from your teacher, a compliment.

00:06:16:18 - 00:06:50:24

André

It could be a hug. It could be a golden star. It could be anything really, you know? And when we get dopamine very easily without making any effort or without putting, a lot of effort into whatever we're doing, we get addicted very easily as well. So what what is happening in our students brains nowadays is basically that they get dopamine very quickly from their digital devices, you know, so, notification the score of a game, you know, they get points and usually there's music.

00:06:51:01 - 00:07:14:15

André

Visuals are incredible. Right. So special effects, all of those things are very dopaminergic. They they release they help you release dopamine, but you don't have to put any effort or you have to put just a little effort into doing that. So our, our balance and we call that homeostasis, right. Our, our body let's say balance is is off.

00:07:14:18 - 00:07:38:02

André

Now we have we have to to make sure that, you know, whenever we get that surge of dopamine we have to balance that out. And then suffering is involved. Frustration is involved because that releases a stress hormone cortisol. Right. Which is also very important. So what is happening is that we're trying very hard to avoid, cortisol release.

00:07:38:02 - 00:07:57:01

André

You know, we, kids cannot get stressed. Kids cannot get impatient, kids cannot get frustrated. And we're just giving very cheap dopamine, you know, games and everything. And then their their balance is completely off. And that's very bad. You know, we have to become better-regulated human beings.

00:07:57:04 - 00:08:21:03

Laura

We've covered a lot in the space of this episode. And I bet this is thinking, oh gosh, this is a big problem. I'm noticing it. What Andre is talking about, I'm noticing in myself, in my students, maybe in my school environment. What's one thing that those listeners can do today to maybe turn things back a bit and to start creating space for, I know it's just uncomfortable, right?

00:08:21:03 - 00:08:31:13

Laura

To have to struggle in your learning rather than just quickly getting an answer. Okay, those dopamine hits, what could be one thing that's very achievable that they could try out today?

00:08:31:15 - 00:08:49:16

André

Well, I think you know, the best answer I can give you right now, Laura, is go back to basics. You know, think about what you had as a student and now what you had to do as a student when there were no screens. You know, there were no, there was no internet connection or anything like that. And we played a lot.

00:08:49:16 - 00:09:35:07

André

I wrote for for an article for ‘MET’ you know, Modern English Teacher about the human factor. And I think that's what, what really matters nowadays people are talking about artificial intelligence. You're talking about, augmented and virtual reality. They're talking about all types of amazing technological things that we have. But what about the human factor actually connecting with the human being sitting next to you and looking that human being in the eye and touching that human being, like, giving them a hug, playing a game with them and and having a real conversation with them and moving around that space as an animal does, you know, recognising, scanning the space.

00:09:35:09 - 00:10:09:07

André

That's what we have to do. We have to go back to that kind of scenario. And I'm not saying we should get rid of all digital devices or anything like that. I think there is a moment for you to use them in the classroom. But if you look at the research coming out nowadays, you know, there's a there's an American psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, and he wrote a very interesting book, the the anxious, generation, I think the anxious generation and he talks about how risky, playfulness is very important.

00:10:09:07 - 00:10:30:15

André

And he it's funny because he, he grew up in the 70s, 80s, and he shows a picture of a playground back in the day. You know, the playground was a place where you could actually fall and break an arm, you know, and nowadays they are all protected by it, you know. Yeah, sure. We're concerned with, you know, kids and their well-being, of course.

00:10:30:17 - 00:10:55:04

André

But I think because we are overly concerned, we're we're extremely concerned. We're doing more harm than good. You know, we have to let kids experiment and take chances and be it helps risky behaviour because those are very important opportunities for them to train those executive functions to develop their cognitive potential and to become better people. You know, that's the idea.

00:10:55:05 - 00:10:56:20

André

Yeah.

00:10:56:22 - 00:11:13:11

Laura

Lots of food for thought. But like I said, going back to the basics, creating space for uncertainty and not being scared of that, but maybe doing it through the means of play, play-based learning and having fun with it is such a joyful way to kind of approach what does seem like a big scary problem. Thank you today, for sharing this, Andre.

00:11:13:11 - 00:11:19:14

Laura

It's always such inspiration talking to you before we wrap up, where can people find you to learn more and follow your work?

00:11:19:14 - 00:11:46:20

André

Okay, well, thank you for having me again, Laura. It's always a pleasure. And if you're interested in following what I do, I'm all over social media, but you can find me now at Learning Cosmos. So make sure you Google Learning Cosmos. You will find the article, the website I have an Instagram profile nowadays and I also have, published, you know, a couple of books and the main one being The Owl Factor.

00:11:46:23 - 00:12:04:13

André

And I think the last episode was on that. So if you are interested in discussing a little bit of philosophy and teaching and Socrates and Fables and Owls, make sure you Google the Owl Factor as well and you'll come across my website and my social media.

00:12:04:13 - 00:12:30:05

Laura

Thank you André. And as always, listeners know that I'm getting through those links in the show notes. I can find them very easily. If you've got a question or an idea that you'd like to pitch to the podcast, and you can go to the website tesolpop.com. Finally, you can support the work we do here at TESOL Pop by sharing the episode with your teaching community, by leaving a rating review wherever you listen to the podcast, or by even buying as a coffee by going to ko-fi.com/tesolpop

Episodes featuring André

Listen to André's previous interview about his philosophy on teaching and learning featured in his book The Owl Factor.

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